Book #111: 101 Places Not to See Before You Die

Book #111: 101 Places Not to See Before You Die by Catherine Price

August 26, 2014

I actually finished this book a couple of days ago. I’ll probably finish the book that I’m currently on tomorrow, or Thursday at the latest. But I’ve been very busy since then, and while I can read while at the gym, a blog post actually requires some sitting down. So I’m getting this done while my laundry dries.

So this book is meant to be a parody of books that have a certain number of things to something before you die: places to see, books to read, and the author even named off some more ridiculous titles as well. So this book isn’t meant to be taken seriously. I found some of the entries to be entertaining for different reasons, but overall I wasn’t really into the structure of the book. Some of the locations were places in times long past, which would be impossible to visit anyway, such as the islands of northern Europe during a wicked storm in the 14^th century. A couple of locations were completely fictional. Many of these seemed to reflect the author’s own taste and personality; some people might find the conditions at Burning Man to be enjoyable, and others may find Mount Rushmore to still be a place worth seeing, in spite of the author’s critique. My parents were actually supposed to visit Rushmore on a recent road trip, but had to hurry home when one of the dogs go sick…according to Price, they weren’t missing much. And I know a few people who have seen the famous gum wall in Seattle and think it’s pretty damn cool; it’s something I’d like to see and contribute to, just because. The author was very grossed out by it…hello, wear latex gloves, then.

My favorite entries either talked about a personal travel experience (Price’s own, or those of guest authors whose entries were supplemental to, and did not count as, the 101 places themselves), or had interesting information. For example, Price writes about how she got her first period while on a family trip in China. They were traveling on a train with out-of-order bathrooms and cramped quarters. The author includes a note that train travel in China has gotten better. I can say from experience that it has…sort of. I’m very glad that I wasn’t on my period at any point when I visited China…the three weeks I was there weren’t  that week, thank God, and yes, if you’re a Westerner there, people will gawk at you in post places, though maybe not so much in Beijing. That particular chapter in this book was one of my favorites, because the author had really  been there. The differences between the chapters written from her own experience, and those based on research, were significant.

I found the chapter on  buzkashi, a very strange and dangerous-sounding sport in Afghanistan, to be fascinating. The chapter on Carry Nation and her tour of pubs with her hatchet was really random (it wasn’t the only chapter based more on a person or thing, rather than an actual place), but also interesting. I also appreciated the chapter about Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Everything assumes that it’s a great place to spend the New Year, but it really sounds awful. I could imagine myself, drunk with friends and so desperate to pee that I would squat at a building and get arrested or something. No  bathrooms and no booze for sale…on New Year’s. Are you goddamn kidding me?

I don’t get why Fucking, Austria would make this list. The name is unfortunate, depending on your taste and sense of decency, but otherwise there’s nothing said about why this would be a terrible place to go. So that’s one example of an entry that is simply thrown in for humor.  At least the very short chapters for “your boss’s bedroom” and “your college campus four months after graduation” made some sense, and were pointless and humorous.

With how very loosely the author compiled this list, there are actually infinite places that you wouldn’t want to go before you die. A Nazi concentration camp, for one. The spaceship in the  Alien movies. Cosmo Kramer’s apartment (that’s one that would be according to taste, too, of course). For the format to work, I feel like she should have stuck to actual places that people visit, like Euro Disney and Wall Drug. Or, it should have dropped the whole format, and been a book about bad traveling experiences; that would have been funny. In spite of my annoyance at the format at the book, however, most of the chapters were entertaining. This book didn’t quite work, but it’s an entertaining and interesting read nonetheless, and I did enjoy learning little tidbits (some quite disgusting, though) about other countries and cultures.